Iran is shipping arms to Russia via a smuggling route into Syria, which would violate the terms of United Nations Security Council resolution 2231, which implemented the 2015 nuclear deal, according to Western intelligence agencies.

“In June, two airplanes from Iran flew directly to the Khmeimim Air Base [southeast of Latakia] – the most important Russian military base in Syria – in order to bring the military equipment for transport to Russia,” Benjamin Weinthal reported Tuesday in The Jerusalem Post citing an earlier report carried by the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

The military equipment was then loaded onto trucks and brought to the Syrian port of Tartus. The equipment was then shipped to Novorossiysk, Russia's main port in the Black Sea.

According to the German report, the weapons were sent to Syria for maintenance using the "new smuggling route."

Resolution 2231 prohibits Iran from "the supply, sale, or transfer of arms or related materiel from Iran by their nationals or using their flag vessels or aircraft and whether or not originating in the territory of Iran," unless approved in advance by the UN Security Council.

Earlier this month the United Kingdom, France, and Germany joined the United States in condemning Iran's “threatening and provocative” ballistic missile program in a letter written to UN Secretary General António Guterres. The letter also accused Iran of defying the language of the resolution governing ballistic missile development.

An exclusive investigation by Kurdish broadcaster Rudaw has revealed that Iranian-backed Shiite militia group Hashd al-Shaabi has trained hundreds of child soldiers in northern Iraq, in violation of international humanitarian law.

Commanders of the Hashd al-Shaabi troops, also known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), performed the military training in Bashir village, Kirkuk province, for some 280 children. Last year, 180 child soldiers completed the three months military training course, and some 100 children have so far graduated this year.

According to Rudaw, the children were trained in the use of light and heavy weapons to prepare them to take part in the fight against the PMF’s enemies in Iraq. International law prohibits the recruitment and training of children under the age of 18 and the use of child soldiers has been recognized as a war crime under the statute on the International Criminal Court.

A representative of the Shiite militia group defended the decision to recruit and train child soldiers, “These youngsters are taught martial arts and how to use weapons so that they can defend themselves and their areas,” said Sayyid Qambar Musawi, a Shiite cleric in Bashir.

The Rudaw report comports with other evidence that the Iranian-backed militias engage in this illegal practice.

In its 2016 Human Rights Report for Iraq, the United States State Department charged that "armed Shia groups, under the banner of the PMF, continued to give weapons training and military-style physical fitness conditioning to children under the age of 18 at summer training camps."

CIA Director Mike Pompeo warned that Iran and Hezbollah’s growing presence in Venezuela poses a serious threat to the United States.

In an interview with Fox News Sunday, Pompeo observed that the chaos in Venezuela has the potential to negatively impact the U.S. “The Cubans are there; the Russians are there, the Iranians, Hezbollah are there.” He continued, “This is something that has a risk of getting to a very, very bad place, so America needs to take this very seriously.”

Hezbollah has used Latin America as a base for its terror-financing network for years, and long benefitted from Caracas’ fragile institutions and rampant corruption. Venezuela’s government has facilitated economic and logistical operations for the Iranian terror proxy through money laundering and other illicit activities, making it a haven and operating base for Islamic extremist groups.

Meanwhile, the Venezuelan regime continues to expand its connections with Hezbollah. Earlier this year, Tareck El Aissami was appointed by President Nicolas Maduro as vice president. American intelligence officials believe that he has close ties with Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah.

For Iran and Hezbollah, maintaining a presence in Latin America is critical for continuing their regional operations. For Maduro, Iran is a key ally that would help in his regime’s survival.

According to a 2016 report by The Washington Institute, Iran and Hezbollah continue to be “hyperactive” in the region. While Hezbollah operates terror cells in well-known hotspots such as the Tri-Border Area, its logistics, financing, and planning efforts are also ongoing elsewhere.

Inside the NovellusDx lab in the Jerusalem Bio-Park, a team of 35 biologists, engineers, mathematicians and physicians recreates the genetic maps of real human individuals with cancer.

The NovellusDx team analyzes the cancer-driving mutations in each patient’s DNA to deliver actionable intelligence to oncologists, helping them choose the right cancer therapy for each and every one.

NovellusDx CEO Haim Gil-Ad explains that although genomic sequencing already is starting to be performed for cancer patients and is likely to become standard, sequencing can reveal tens or even hundreds of mutations but cannot annotate the exact eight to 12 driver mutations that are actually enabling the tumor to grow.

The company’s proprietary technology measures the activity of signaling pathways to assess the oncogenic action of known and unknown mutations and their response to cancer drugs.

Founded in 2011 and in operation since May 2012, NovellusDx is working with oncologists in about 20 prominent cancer medical centers, mainly in the United States, including MD Anderson in Texas, Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York and Massachusetts General.

“If the oncologist has a dilemma of which mutation to target first, NovellusDx can find the right target and you can try different types of drugs on a single mutation to see which gives the best results,” says Dr. Nir Peled, medical adviser for NovellusDx and head of the Thoracic Cancer Unit and the Center for Precision Cancer Care at the Davidoff Cancer Center of Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva.